“All right guys listen up,” she explained. “Dahlia and I are your Team Captains. Greg, over there, is the Captain of the Blue Team. I’m sure that all of you have met before, if not, you should introduce yourselves after this briefing.” Fax pointed to the map behind her. “We will be dropped off in Section four. Now, Red Team’s usually in Section three and Blue’s in Section 9; this is new territory that we’re going under. It is assumed to believe that where we’re going is a yellow zone, so that’s why you were asked to bring your heaviest weapons. We have no idea how many zombies or types are in the area; we have to be cautious of what types there are out there.” “Fax, what are we lookin’ for?” Marauder questioned. “Lookin’ fer ya mom, mate,” Log answered quickly. “Say that to mah face you fucking Trog!” Marauder replied as he jumped out of his seat. Outlaw, who sat next to him jumped out of his seat as well to restrain the Demoman. Fax looked over at Log, who gave a grin and said nothing.

“Enough!” Fax hollered. She leaned on the table to keep her cool. The room quieted down. Fax sat up and breathed in as she tossed a small packet onto the table; the same one Greg gave her. “We’re charting territory. That is our mission for the next few days. Get a map going so we would be able to come back and see what kind of items we can bring home.” “That’s it?” Fatman demanded now his turn to stand up to protest. “Y’need two teams for that?” “Yes, that would be it, Engineer,” Fax countered. “Once we mark the territory, we have to go straight back to get supplies with the Halos. Once we are with the Halos, we have to help them bring back supplies. This is the order that I received. We have to clear the territory and remap everything. That means we have to stay in the area for a few days to see if the zombies come any closer.” Hailfax showed a new map of the charted area. She points to the area called: Section Seven. “If y’all remember DC before it went to hell, this is little edge of area is where the Washington Monument is. We will be heading toward the Reflection Pool and the Lincoln Memorial. Once there, Alex and Greg will clear a slight path for us using the Mini’s. Once we get to the Lincoln Memorial, Dodom and Fatman will set up sentries here. And here. Ensouls and Dara are head up to the roof and snipe around from the north and south corners.” Fax looked at the group before she continued. “Next, Cricco and Marauder will set up sticky bombs around the Washington Monument. Outlaw and Samek, y’all are gonna have to go through the White House and look through GW University; see if there’s anything of use out there. While Samek and Outlaw are doing that, the rest of us will go separate ways. Red Team will go toward the Tidal Basin. Blue Team will head toward Foggy Bottom. TZ and I will head along Arlington Memorial Bridge…and the cemetery. The two of us are to scout ahead to see how bad it is. Then once that is done, we’ll contact you guys for you to cross. Once across, we’ll be heading toward the Pentagon.”

“Pentagon?” Alex asked. “Isn’t that….Red Zone?” Fax breathed in and slowly breathed out. “Yes…once we clear the Yellow Zone, we will be heading into a Red Zone.” The room went silent. They knew that what Hailfax just said was suicide. The walk to the Red Zone alone would be horrendous. Not to mention from where they were to be dropped off, it would take them at least an hour before they would see the Washington Monument. Let alone the Arlington Bridge. Fax sighed and looked at the group in front of her. “The Red Zone is very dangerous. We have been assigned to it. If anyone wants to object or doesn’t want to go, you stay on the ship until we leave. Any objections?” She was greeted by silence. Fax felt somewhat relived. She half expected the Blue team’s medic to object. It’ll be a hellava ride with that one when he pisses himself. Fax stood up straight and gave a small smile. “Terrific!” Fax smiled as she clasped her hands together. “Well, that’s pretty much all I had for our briefing…so y’all are able to go about as you please. I’ll be around if you would like to talk about the mission. Dahlia and Greg will be as well. Don’t hesitate to talk to one of us.” “Fax, you sound like a bad camp counselor,” Ralion sighed as the teams stood up.

“Hey, at least I care for your safety,” Fax pointed out. Fax waited for the teammates to leave. Dahlia gave Fax a look if she needed help. Fax waved her off and began to pick up her materials on the desk. Fax looked up to see Greg be the last one to leave. Fax gave a shudder. “Creep,” Fax muttered as she turned around to take down the maps. Once she took everything down, she made her way back to her room. She quickly opened and closed the door to her room. She sat at the desk to stare at the new map of DC; it was hard. She grew up in this area and to hear that whatever maps she had in her head were lost. She shook her head and left the room to explore the ship more. She walked past the Mess Hall to hear someone strumming a guitar. Fax peeked inside to see the Medic, Nerdpower with his back behind her as he strummed the guitar. She was about to leave when the medic began to sing.

I've been driving through these nightsThis road reminding me of all I amAs time drags on, these windows fadeReality starts slipping from my mindAll I know is this all fades, the second that I'm by your sideCan this be real, can this be fate

Just say you'll be there for mePlease say that you'll be thereJust say that you'll be my sideWhen the storm subsides – In this Moment (When the Storm Subsides)

Fax sighed and raised an eyebrow. She walked over to Nerd and sat next to him. Nerd stopped immediately and stared at her.“Sorry!” He stated. “I was…it’s just….guitar keeps me calm.” “It’s okay,” Fax nodded. “I don’t mind it. It seems…”“Normal?” Nerd asked. “I was going to say nice, but normal’s good too.”Nerd gave a smile. “So what should I expect out there?”“Humidity, zombies, sun, no shade,” Hailfax answered quickly. “The usesh.” Nerd gave a slight nod. “How bad are the zombies?”“You mostly get Crawlers. Vaguely we see Spitters and Stalkers. Banshee or two; but that’s rare. So are Mercies and ‘Zerkers. Cobras are seen, but they are taken care of with the Snipers. Cobras are dangerous; you need to watch out for those.”“Cobras are….Basilisks right?”“The actual term, yes. I like calling them Cobras,” Fax answered as she stood up. "I'll let you get back to whatever. I'm gonna see how much longer it's gonna take." Fax walked around and started to head up to the Bridge when she heard someone run behind her. Fax turned around and saw no one. She shrugged her shoulders and continued her to way to Bridge. She heard footsteps again and felt someone hug her from behind.

Fax quickly opened her eyes. Her body felt numb as she sat up in the bed. Her neck hurt, but it wasn’t as bad as her arm. She walked out and noticed that the rest of the team began their ascension to the top deck. Once there, the Red Halos waited; their guns held up to their chests. The team began to unload the crates for Quarantine. As soon as the crew finished, they were immediately treated for their wounds. Only Hailfax suffered the greatest amount of injury with her dislocated arm. The crew placed on their infected badges and armbands before they separated ways until the next mission.

Everyone knew where they would be. Alex and Marauder would be at Rusty’s bar. Ensouls would be at the shooting range. Dahlia and Dodom would check the supplies for the next mission. Sammich would be perfecting his flamethrower. McNinja would be at the hospital that treated the Infected because no one wanted an infected doctor to look at them. As soon as Hailfax finished with her new cast, she would file paperwork and check maps for new routes into the city. Outlaw…well…no one knew where Outlaw would go. He would vanish and would not be seen until he was needed for another mission. Hailfax flexed her right fingers. She could feel the softness of the brace that held her arm together. It was more effective than the sling; she would be able to go out on the next mission. The next mission was in less than a week; hard to believe since the ship needed to be refueled. Hailfax sat in her small office; it wasn’t really an office, it was more like a supply closet. “I didn’t know a Scout could get hurt,” a voice asked. Fax looked up to see Greg from the Blue team. Like Fax and Dahlia, he was the Captain of his team. “Usually, they are invincible. You kill one of your teammates?”

“Fuck off, Greg,” was all Fax told him. She tried to finish the map for the new section that her crew was just in. It was hard to retrace everything from memory; however, Fax could do the job. She was the team’s eyes before they ventured forward and she also helped the Red Halos with maps of the city. Greg gave a small smirk. “Now, is that how you treat your teammates, Fax?” “You ain’t on my team, Greg,” Fax retorted as she didn’t look up from her work. “And you never will be.” Greg scoffed and tossed a mission packet on my desk. “Start of the next mission, I will be.”

Greg walked out without another word. Fax skimmed the mission packet and sighed. True, Greg was on the list, but it was the entire Blue Team; it was rather odd. Her team, the Red Team, scanned section 3. However, it was known that the Blue Team would be in section 9. Fax scanned the Blue Team names before she gave a smile at the codenames; she worked with the majority before. Especially the Scout, TZ, who was known to not choose a side and decided to wear a purple shirt instead of blue. She knows that Alex had worked with Greg and Cricco before, and she knew that Alex barely got along with Greg. This social experiment would have dire consequences. Dahlia and Log were in the same squadron before they were paired off with different teams; best in class, or so they told their teams. Dodom and Fatman were known to build the world’s powerful sentry gun; with rockets. Fax groaned when she saw Ralion’s name. Sammich and Ralion would fight over who would be able to produce the largest flames out of the small, Red Halo friendly flamethrower. That’ll be a good start for the mission; come home with 3rd degree burns. The Sniper was named Dara. Once upon a time, Ensouls told Fax that she knew him. She said that he was a damn good shot, but he wasn't as fast as her. Fax could only agree with the Sniper; Ensouls was in the process of loading her weapon while she spoke of this. Finally, there was Nerd and Samek. Fax scanned their files to see if her team worked with them. Nerd was a newcomer into the field; medic. They needed more of those. Samek was just as bad at Outlaw; a file of nothing.

“Fucking spies,” Hailfax muttered. Fax finished with her paperwork before she decided to call it a day. She rubbed the back of her neck to get to crick out of it. She stood up and grabbed Blue Team files before she left her office. She walked through the empty halls as the lights hummed overhead. As she passed the non-infected areas, she could feel the stares from the non-infected. As she walked, she felt like there was a target on her back. She hated to wear her infected armband and badge. She walked through the non-infected wing quickly to get out of the stares. Once outside, she was able to breathe once again. She then trudged to the other side of the Island back home to the Infected Barracks. Once there, she found the Red Team wing and the individual rooms. She knew for a fact that her team weren’t there. Fax opened her door and quickly closed it. She tossed the files onto her desk as she collapsed onto her bed. She turned to stare at the ceiling before she finally fell asleep.

The few days came and went; to the Red Team, it had felt like it was only a couple of hours. Fax was the last to the Dockyard as she ripped off her infected badge and armband before she placed them in her bag. The rest of the Red Team conversed with each other before Alex noticed the Scout on her way. “Hailfax!” Alex exclaimed with a happy smile on his face. “How’s the arm?” “Its fine, thank you,” Fax answered as she walked through the crowd. She walked up to Dahlia before she asked: “Has the Blues shown up yet?” “Not yet,” Dahlia responded. “Though, that strange fella in the purple shirt’s on the boat already. We’ve been debating whether or not he’s killed the Captain yet.” Hailfax rolled her eyes. “Well, make another bet with the team. Blues have a new medic.” Dahlia laughed and turned to the group. “New pool guys! New member’s comin’ into the Wastes with us! How long shall the poor bastard live?” “Three hours,” Sammich answered as he handed Dahlia a twenty. “You must have some faith in ‘em, Sam,” Dodom replied. “I say an hour.” “Entire mission,” Outlaw stated. “You have no faith either, Dodom.” “Already you have lost faith in my team,” a voice replied. The Team turned to see the Blue Team. Greg stared at the Red Team; especially at Dahlia and Fax. “Already you have shown a disappointment in not only the ARC facilities, but your own teammates as well. Betting to see when my medic’s gonna kick it?” “I’m right here!” The medic, Nerdpower replied. “Please don’t talk about me.”

“He’s one of the best medic’s that the ARC provided for us!” Greg rambled on. “What makes you think that your medic is better than the best?” “I’m actually not the best,” Nerdpower reminded him. “I just got out of the training programs.” The Red Team was about to retaliate, but the horn of the ship went off. The two teams looked up to see the Captain who tried to wave them on. The two teams stared at each other before they headed onto the ship. Once there, the team captains lead their teams into the large Mess Hall for briefing. Captain Frohmage waited in the Mess Hall with TZ. “Hello Captain,” Fax smiled to Frohmage. “Beautiful day, ain’t it lass?” Captain smiled back through his wild hair. “Beautiful day t’go out and get some fishees. No storm like last time we was out t’sea.” “Wonderful,” Fax replied. “Everyone is on board; we are able to set sail.” “Aye, lass,” Captain muttered as he walked back to the Bridge. Once there, he undocked the boat and the ship set sail. Captain Frohmage lit a corncob pipe and breathed in the heavenly smoke. “Farewell and adieu unto you Spanish ladies, Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain. For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston. And so nevermore shall we see you again. Farewell and adieu unto you Spanish ladies…” Meanwhile, down in the Mess Hall, Fax waited for the teams to sit down so she could get started. Once everyone settled down, Fax began.